The timeline coincides with the opening of the new “GlaswegAsians” exhibition at the Scotland Street School Museum in Glasgow, which explores how South Asian people came to Glasgow and how the city has grown and changed as a result.

This is the first timeline we’ve launched as part of our relationship with The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), who represent members that include museums, heritage sites, zoos and palaces. We’re working with other ALVA members right now to bring more history timelines to life.

The timeline runs from 1855, with the arrival of Maharajah Duleep Singh in Perthshire, to the present day involvement of women in politics, and takes you through the evolution of the South Asian and Muslim community in Scotland.

Preserving South Asian and Muslim Heritage in Scotland, it explores the challenges of coming to a foreign land in the 19th century, how they moved from peddlars to multi-millionaires and how the early mosques and community facilities were established in Scotland.

Twile users can overlay the Colourful Heritage events onto their own timeline and see how they affected their Scottish ancestors.

If you think there is a moment that should be captured in the Colourful Heritage timeline, the museum would love you to help populate it. Share your interesting facts and images via email on info@colourfulheritage.com. Every event shared is an additional strand that weaves into the colourful tartan fabric of Scottish society!

If you are celebrating Independence Day in the US today, we have a version of our infographic especially for you!

Our family history infographic – designed to help you share your research and engage younger generations – is now available in red, white and blue, with the American stars and stripes.

The personalised family infographic is free and – whether you are currently using Twile or not – you can create one at twile.com/numbers/american.

If you’re new to Twile, all you need to do is import your FamilySearch tree or upload a GEDCOM file to automatically generate your infographic.

We designed the infographic for sharing online with your family – it includes fun statistics such as the average number of children per family, the most common surnames, the ratio of men to women and the average age of marriage. Now available in the colours of Ireland, England and America, you can create a digital version or order a print to celebrate your family’s heritage.

In addition to the new infographic, Twile users can see our timeline of the American Revolutionary War. The timeline shows the story of the American Revolution and you can also overlay the timeline onto your own family history timelines, to see the lives of your ancestors in the context of what was happening in the country around them. You will be able to see your ancestors’ milestones alongside events such as the Boston Tea Party and the first Independence Day Celebration in 1777.

To help in our mission of engaging the wider family in family history, we’ve just opened up our streams of world events to everyone, whether they use Twile or not. This means that anyone can view a Twile timeline of World War 1 or a timeline of big inventions, for example, even if they don’t yet use Twile to record their family story.

There’s a quote attributed to author James Patterson that will explain how we think these public streams can help:

“There’s no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.”

Family historians often struggle to engage their family members in their research. Are they really not interested in where they came from and how their ancestors lived their lives? Or are they simply reading the wrong book?

We hope that by encouraging people to explore world history events on a timeline we’ll be able to help them take the next step and start recording their own lives and those of their parents, grandparents and children. Every memory and photo they add to their family timeline will be something preserved that could otherwise be lost forever.

Can you help?
We’re looking for people who can help us put together streams on specific topics that would make good timelines. Are you an expert on the American War of Independence or the history of London or the life of Ghandi? Please get in touch by sending us an email to help@twile.com – you could have your own stream on a Twile timeline!

We’re also looking for suggestions on what streams we should add next – please let us have your ideas.

Add streams to your family timelineIf you already have a Twile timeline, you can add any of our streams of world history to help give context to your family story:

Move the sliders on the right hand side of the page to activate any of our streams

Click ‘Done’

You should now see your chosen content on the same timeline as your family history

Privacy

By the way – although we’re opening up access to our streams of world history, everything you add to your own Twile timeline is still totally private and secure – nothing you share on Twile will ever be made available to anyone outside of your family. If you’d like to know more about our approach to privacy at Twile, I’d suggest this article we wrote a while back: Twile Privacy

On this day in 1773,Samuel Adams and the “Sons of Liberty” boarded three ships in Boston Harbour and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. It was a reaction to the Tea Act, passed by the British Parliament earlier in the year, which colonists believed violated their rights. This event and the British reaction to it were significant in the escalation of the American Revolution (The War of Independence).

The financial cost of the “Tea Party” was significant, with more than £9,000 (present day value around £1 million) of tea dumped into Boston Harbour.

The Fifth of November is Guy Fawkes’ Day in England, a day set aside to remember a failed terrorist attack in 1605.

Guy Fawkes was one of the men who took part in the Gunpowder Plot, the attempted assassination of King James I of England and VI of Scotland. The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England’s Parliament on 5 November 1605, but the plot was revealed to the authorities in an anonymous letter and thwarted before any damage was done.

Guy Fawkes was executed with the other conspirators, but it is he who is most associated with the gunpowder plot today . Like the fourth of July in America, the fifth of November in England has been devoted to Fireworks ever since.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November;
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I see of no reason why Gunpowder Treason;
Should ever be forgot.